


Blood Brothers (Crutchie)

by politics_and_prose



Series: This is my family; I found it, all on my own [5]
Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-27 15:44:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17164739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/politics_and_prose/pseuds/politics_and_prose
Summary: I'm not sure if there's any canon reason for Crutchie's leg - I've seen polio a few times but I don't know if that's fact or fanon - so I offered another option.  I hope I've done one of the most beloved characters in the fandom justice.





	Blood Brothers (Crutchie)

It wasn’t like Charlie had _asked_ to have his leg stepped on by a horse when he was young. He’d been little and living with his mother and he’d wandered away from her in the market. He remembered the day vividly – it was his very first memory – and recalled it every time the weather was bad and he could barely move for the pain. 

He used to tell himself that if his mother had simply gotten him the apple he’d requested, none of it would have happened. She hadn’t, though, because money was tight and they needed eggs and bread more than he needed a treat. Instead of staying with her like she’d told him, he’d gotten it in his mind to steal an apple, like he’d seen other kids do.

He was six at the time, and fiercely independent, or so his mother had told him. He’d slipped away while his mother was trying to get a discount on some fish, intending to grab an apple and run someplace hidden so he could eat it without getting caught.

He’d been quick enough to grab the apple and shove it down his shirt but that was as far as his plan had gotten. Before he could make his getaway, someone dropped something – a bucket, he thought – that startled a horse that was hitched next to the fruit stand. The horse whinnied and reared onto its hind legs before falling forward again and kicking out with its rear leg. The shoe hit him right below the knee, he remembered.

And then his world had gone black.

When he woke up, he was at home in his bed with something wrapped around his leg. His mother was crying and pacing the room and when he called out to her, she just cried harder.

The next thing he remembered was his mother handing him a stick to walk with. It hadn’t been easy but he’d learned to lean on it pretty quick once he found out putting any pressure on his leg made him feel like he was going to throw up from the pain. 

He was ten when he asked his mother why she never got his leg fixed. She told him she couldn’t afford to fix him and feed him at the same time and he hadn’t pushed it any further. He figured it wasn’t so bad, having a useless leg. At least he was alive.

Charlie was eleven when his mother died and left him alone.

He was living on the streets, begging for food or pennies from people passing. Some felt bad for him and would drop a coin at his feet or hand over a piece of fruit, but he knew he was bound to get sick sooner or later and that would be the end of him. With winter moving in quickly, he was sure he would die in a cold alley, alone and starving.

And then someone came along and saved him.

He had no idea when a fourteen year old Jack Kelly came and picked him up off the street – not literally, though, because Charlie never wanted to feel like he couldn’t do things on his own – would change his life forever. Jack had found him, asked him if he had any money for lodging, then promised to pay his way into the Lower Manhattan Newsboy Lodging House until Charlie could pay for it on his own.

Jack told him that most of the guys in the house didn’t go by their real names and suggested Charlie come up with one. He chose Crutchie to take away the ability of the other kids to make fun of him for his leg. If he called himself by that name, it wouldn’t hurt when others did too. Jack had ruffled his hair and given him a brilliant smile before saying his new name out loud for the first time.

He thought it sounded pretty good when Jack said it. 

His new friend showed him how to be a newsie, teaching him how to make up headlines as needed, or improving the ones that The World had already come up with. It wasn’t easy and he ended most days in pain, but he had friends now who could help distract him when he felt like the only way to feel better was to get his leg removed altogether. 

His life wasn’t easy by any means, but being with Jack and the other boys made his days less stressful. Being a newsie was a lot easier than being a street kid, begging for food or clothes or money. He had a community that helped each other out. If he was short on cash for food, Jack or Finch or Specs would chip in; if he couldn’t make rent, some of the other fellas would pool their money together to make sure he had a bed to sleep in. And he did the same for his friends.

They were a family. It didn’t matter that Finch was a runaway or Jack had been to jail. No one cared that Race needed help with rent sometimes because he blew his money at the track. They always made room for Buttons and Albert when they wanted to stay at the lodging house, even if it meant some kids had to double up to make sure there was enough space. 

Crutchie had lost his father before he was old enough to remember him and his mother before he was old enough to take care of himself, but he wasn’t without family. He had a brother who would never let him down and a bunch of friends who he figured were better than any cousin or aunt or uncle would be. He didn’t need blood relatives when he had the newsies.

“Hey, Crutchie! Lemme borra’ ya crutch a minute! I bet Tommy Boy a dime that I could stand on it for thirty seconds without fallin’ off!”

Groaning, Crutchie tucked his crutch under his arm and made his way outside the lodging house to see a smiling Racetrack, a skeptical Tommy Boy and Jack and Specs with their heads in their hands.

No, he really didn’t need any other family but these guys.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure if there's any canon reason for Crutchie's leg - I've seen polio a few times but I don't know if that's fact or fanon - so I offered another option. I hope I've done one of the most beloved characters in the fandom justice.


End file.
